I have been working at my new job for a couple weeks now and I wanted something else to eat that was different to take home to enjoy. I have gone and eaten at Pho So 1 Boston in Randolph before, but I wanted it to give it another go. I ordered wrong over the phone but only slightly. I received an extra large pho noodle soup with well done brisket and rare slices of rib eye.

Cinnamon Rolls and cereal seem to come at polar opposite ends of the breakfast spectrum. When one finds time to eat cinnamon rolls, a good day is more than likely on the horizon, while a bowl of cereal generally indicates you’ll once again be subjected to texting your mom to let her know you got to work safely, even though you’re 26 and only commute 15 minutes.

Well, perhaps in an attempt to create some middle ground, the people at Cinnabon have molded the two sides together with a new, multi-grain cereal creation, and in a way they succeeded. If cinnamon rolls are ecstasy and cereal is agony, than middle ground would have to be apathy, which is exactly what I felt after two bowls of this stuff.

My mother’s birthday was this week so as tradition in our family we dine out that night. My family is quite a picky bunch of eaters, my sister and dad are happy with simpler food or a steak but no seafood, my grandmother has to have seafood that is soft enough for her to eat, and my mother can be a tad selective as well. This time we decided to try out a new restaurant in Weymouth, Massachusetts.

Not content to simply spread povertization (real word?) and self-loathing to the frozen dinner market, the good folks at Banquet have expanded their dessert repertoire with a new collection of frozen pies.

They’re not great.

The first problem I had with my Cherry Berry (I also spotted Apple in the frozen section of my local grocery store) was that it was leaky and made a puddly mess in my microwave. Seeing as how the product was made by Banquet, the margin of error was ultra-thin and being forced to take six seconds out of my five hour work day to wipe up a small mess made my mood less than jovial.

I’m not a huge Oreo fan (see my review for the dreadful Oreo Brownie). It’s not a bad cookie to eat in a pinch, but I have a preference for other brands, most notably the unfortunately underrated E.L. Fudge.

So when I tried to alleviate an E.L. craving the other day only to find the closest store didn’t even carry them (fucking bogus, Murphy’s), I had to go another route.

Having never seen the Cookie Sticks ‘n Creme Dip before, I decided to sample it and chronicle the decent, yet unremarkable experience below.

Taco Bell has done it many times before. If the powers that be can’t think of an entirely new product that uses the same handful of readily available ingredients and give a ridiculous made up name, like Tortada, then they’ll settle for the next best thing: take an old favorite, and make it bigger.

But how do they do it? How do they take something small, and make it big? Well, for any fan of great American Cinema, the answer is quite simple. In the critically acclaimed 1997 classic film Good Burger, the demented manager of Mondo Burger uses an illegal chemical known as Triampathol to super size his meat patties. Now, the director chose never to reveal exactly why Triampathol was made illegal, and I’m not even sure I want to know.

The point is, Taco Bell is obviously doing something to our food to make it bigger. All we need now is a few local psued0-Mex restaurant employees dedicated enough to breach the chain’s security and discover their secret and embark on a ridiculously epic quest to put their hole-in-the-wall back on top.

I know what you’re thinking: “Wow, a low fat cheeseburger you cook in the microwave? Even though I will no doubt break both my legs on the never ending puddle of saliva which will flow from my mouth at the mere thought of these, I will crawl on my belly through any terrain long before I even contemplate the idea of seeking medical attention!”

And I must admit this uber-sarcastic school of thought had me cursing myself the second I stepped out of the grocery store with a box of these in hand. But while I was initially excited about writing another one of my angry, cynical rants about bad food, to my surprise, this new entry from Smart Ones really isn’t deserving of my scorn.

A marketing agency working with the Nabisco Wheat Thins brand contacted me through email about taste testing their new product Wheat Thin Stix. The new product boasts a new shape of packing for easy sharing and a new shape compared to the usual flat squares.

That package looks different! What is up with that?

Looking at the new packaging there are three triangles in the front and back that push out the sides making quick snacking a little easier. The sides of the boxes have a division in the middle which could make an octagon out of the box, but all fail to properly push out at the same time. The additional bends in the box also make it a little more vulnerable to crushing on the go. Do I like the new shape? Yes. Do I think it’s perfect? No.

I could use this review to complain about Taco Bell’s relative inability to use new ingredients. I could gripe about how every menu item has at least two others that are exactly like it, with the exception of sour cream here or beans there. But I’m not going to. Everyone knows that Taco Bell squeezes its stagnant list of condiments and fillers to get the most possible items without spending extra cash on new resources to bring in new ingredients to make truly standout food items. And does anyone really care?

No. You go to Taco Bell, order one of the same four or five menu items that you always have, gobble it up and are immediately satisfied. Every once and a while you’ll stray, possibly finding a new regular meal, but there are always those good ol’ Chalupas or Quesadillas that you’ve always loved. You feel comfortable gripping them in your hand, and that comfort is surpassed only by the familiar flavor; one that you’ve grown accustomed to and would hate to see change.

The above sandwich-shaped USB Hub is one sweet little toy. The four-port 2.0 hub costs only $19, supports plug-and-play and hot swapping, and works with any recent Windows OS. It’s for sale over at USBGeek.com, and I originally discovered it on Food Beast.